Be HONEST!!! What is the most damaging thing you've done to your hair???

[krikit96]

I'm thinking of all the crazyness I've put my hair thru... Here's mines...

I bet my sister I could keep the dryer on high heat for 60 seconds in one spot. I piled my hair up on top of my head (At the time I was APL)Needless to say, I had burned a bald spot right into my head. I just didn't realize how bad heat was for hair... Now I'm between SL and APL.
That was most damaging thing I've ever done. Not to mention STOOPID!

 

[clever]

Flat ironed damp hair with a flat iron and then the next day I added baby oil and used a hot comb to press again

 

[prospurr4]

In 2005, melting the hair in the back of my head off by allowing a relaxer to "marinade" for 30 minutes.

 

[SoSweet08]

Relaxed it. Relaxed it very frequently and used heat on top of that.

 

[LaLa85]

um... accidentally burned part of it off with a hot comb. I don't even know how. I just happened to look down and see a few inches of hair on the floor and feel the back of my head and it was hard and crunchy. I ended up having to cut that section really short (about 2 inches). That area has never fully recovered from that, i think because it's right at the spot where I used to make my ponytail/bun.

 

[ScarletPhoenix]

ETA: didn't realize this was "damaging thing" and not "dumbest thing"....the most damaging thing that I have done to my hair is bleaching it and then coloring it. Because I have BLACK hair it doesn't take color well but the color drys my hair and I end up getting weekly trims when its gets to the ends of my hair.

 

[br0wney3z]

Flat ironed my hair that had day old setting lotion and brown gel in it...oooh boy I was deep frying that day

 

[Sepia_Rose]

I used to not use the neutralizing shampoo when I relaxed my hair and just washed with regular shampoo afterwards when I was in high school. And then wondered why my hair kept breaking off and wouldn't grow past shoulder length. I'm surprised I had any hair left at all.

 

[Str8~Curly]

Last year I flat ironed with coconut oil on high heat and no heat protector . Doesn't get worse than that.

 

[Neith]

Hmmm...

• Relax bone straight with African Pride No Lye Super for an hour, always comb the relaxer through from root to tip with a small toothed comb.
• Just do two quick shampoos with the neutralizing poo
• Condition with Pantene conditioner for 1 minute or 2
• Put royal crown hair grease in the hair
• Curl hair with a curling iron

• Shampoo once a month with any old pantene shampoo
• Condition for 1 or 2 minutes with any old pantene conditioner
• Grease the scalp and hair with royal crown hair grease
• Roll hair on sponge rollers every night
• Cover hair with cotton head scarf every night

Yep, that used to be me!

 

[Curlee_lurker]

I like doing dumb things. Starting in my youth of wet ponytails just brushing the top layer, talk about mildew and matting. Then spritz + dirty hair + curling iron...haha the hair would sometimes burn and stick to the curling iron. Shockingly that didn't stop me.

Bleaching my hair and not getting enough lift, so I used clorox when I was in college and getting old school presses with grease.

Putting Redken Vertical Curl Reducer (no patch test of course and using a pro product on my own) and the curl totally releasing til I basically had straight slighly wavy hair. Bleaching it after a year. Then using a texturizer to stop the frizzing. My hair literally melted in my hands. Went from midback to chin length in about 5 minutes. And this was during my membership here, well the Vertical was pre-LHCF.

 

[KEWLKAT103]

In my younger day, I put gobs of gel or hairspray on my hair and then curled it until crisp.
I would use gel to slick back my sad little ponytail and then burn down the fly aways with the curling iron or pressing comb.
I would hairspray my bangs one day and then use the hot curler on them the next day and so on.

 

[smoothie696]

I did the dumbest thing, unforunetly I kind of thought it was a bad idea at the time but still did it anyways. I went swimming one day and then the next day I got a relaxer, without washing my hair first. Then had the nerve not to deep conditioned. Then had the nerve to wonder why my hair went from APL to almost NL.

 

[Isis77]

Putting that Sun-in spray in my hair. Instead of putting it on sections though for that "highlight" effect (which would have still been dumb anyway) I sprayed my entire head and sat in the direct sunlight....multiple days in a row until my hair was a golden mess of straw.

 

[krikit96]

I like doing dumb things. Starting in my youth of wet ponytails just brushing the top layer, talk about mildew and matting. Then spritz + dirty hair + curling iron...haha the hair would sometimes burn and stick to the curling iron. Shockingly that didn't stop me.

Bleaching my hair and not getting enough lift, so I used clorox when I was in college and getting old school presses with grease.

Putting Redken Vertical Curl Reducer (no patch test of course and using a pro product on my own) and the curl totally releasing til I basically had straight slighly wavy hair. Bleaching it after a year. Then using a texturizer to stop the frizzing. My hair literally melted in my hands. Went from midback to chin length in about 5 minutes. And this was during my membership here, well the Vertical was pre-LHCF.

LMAO @ Shockingly that didn't stop me!!!! HaHaHaHaHa!!!!
That is soooo funny! I actually used to have the same issue with the hair sticking to the curling iron... I would curl my hair AFTER I sprayed spritz on my bangs, and then I would TEASE them into a puff on top of my head!!!!

 

[loveable37]

I wore braids for 6 months or more took them out, and
immediately apply strong BATU relaxer. my hair came out curly like a jerri curlso i waited about
2 weeks later ,then apply a SOFT BEAUTIFUL STRONG RELAXER ,after finish doin tha .apply PERMANENT HAIR COLOR left it in my head all night by mistake i jumped out the bed wash my hair blowdryed it my hair actually melted in the comb it went from BRASTRAP to chin lenght
Its all good now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[IrisDaVirus]

I didn't do this one. My mom did. She left a no-lye relaxer in my head for an hour my junior year of high school. What a disaster that was.

 

[Duff]

• using bleach to put a blonde stripe in the front.

• around the same time using both a relaxer and then 2weeks later, permanent hair dye.

 

[tbaby_8]

The most damaging thing I have done was get my 3c/4a hair bleached with highlights,then colored the highlights until they were blood red. They looked good at the time, but I kept wondering why there were strands on my shoulders.

 

[collegeDoll]

pull out glue in tracks and comb out the glue that was stuck to my hair/scalp with a fine tooth comb...

i didnt even OWN conditioner...nope, that was the "fancy" stuff my aunt had in her bathroom

flat iron the same piece of hair over and over, then spritz, then flat iron one more time to "seal" it

comb super dry crunchy hair into a pony, gel it up, weave pony with 100 bobby pins stabbin my scalp. next day: wake up (no scarf pony still in), take pony out, fine tooth comb back into pony re-gel, re-pony...everyday til relaxer day (2 months) then start again

 

[GeorgiaCutie]

• using bleach to put a blonde stripe in the front.

• around the same time using both a relaxer and then 2weeks later, permanent hair dye.

I used baking soda and peroxide.

 

[TaraDyan]

I used to flat iron and hot curl my hair EVERY.SINGLE.DAY without using a heat protectant, plus my hair was usually dirty when I did this. I DID THIS DAILY, PEOPLE! Stooooooooopid ...

 

[Akemi]

Back in 2006 before I stopped relaxing my hair, I let a girl at the hair salon who wasn't my regular hairdresser bleach my hair. My regular hairdresser told her to do it so I trusted her. I should've noticed that whenever I go that salon no one ever has her do their hair. Thinking back, I don't even think she was a licensed stylist. My hair broke off sooooo much. Not only that, I had been getting touch-ups every 6 weeks and each time I applied the relaxer, I would spread it over the length of my hair. My hair was extreeeeeemely oveprocessed. I went from grazing SL to about 2 inches in 2 months! But I don't regret it that much because I never would've gone natural and, in turn, I never would've found LHCF- my lifesaver!!

Oh, yeah, during this time, I would flat iron my hair daily.

 

[krikit96]

I used to flat iron and hot curl my hair EVERY.SINGLE.DAY without using a heat protectant, plus my hair was usually dirty when I did this. I DID THIS DAILY, PEOPLE! Stooooooooopid ...

Umm... okay. I am doing this NOW!
I am scared now... I don't want to lose my hair! How else am I supposed to look good for work in the morning?

 

[PatTodd]

It's a tie:

Brushed my hair repeatedly with a hard plastic brush because the brush felt good on my scalp. And my hair felt great on the floor.erplexed That's what brought me to LHCF.

Years before that: Turned my curling iron up high to get it hot quick, then curled one side of my hair and listened to the beautiful tinkling sound of hair burning off and falling to the floor .

 

[Menina Preta]

Umm... okay. I am doing this NOW!
I am scared now... I don't want to lose my hair! How else am I supposed to look good for work in the morning?

Pincurl your hair at night if you want some curl at the end, or cross wrap it for a sleek look, put a silk scarf on and go to bed. In the morning, your hair style should be maintained and your hair should feel soft, provided it's moisturized. Using hot tools on dirty hair is not a good look.

 

[SparkleDoll]

This happened back in 1993. I went to the salon to get my hair dyed blond. They bleached my entire relaxed head platinum blond and then they put another color over it to make it a honey color. I was about 12 weeks post relaxer when I got the color done. About a week after I went blond, I decided to relax mt hair with a TCB bone straight relaxer. Needless to say 80% of my shoulder length hair went down the drain. I was devastated. Thank God for weaves, because my cousin hooked me up with a nice looking weave. That was my only experience with a weave and my hair really grew back quickly.

 

[jahzyira]

back in 99 2000 i had relaxed apl hair that was barely makin it i swear up and down i wanted my cousins silky swingin hair( not realizin she was 3b/c relaxed)id relax my hair and if it wasnt straight in the same breath of damp hair id re-relax tha frizzy sections rinse one time with neutralizing poo no conditioner blowdry apply gobs of pink moistureLIEzer(lol) and fry the oil into my hair only to do it all over 3 and a half to 4 weeks later i remember sometimes after the relaxer i didnt even bother to moisturize id jus blowdry and flatiron my hair on the highest setting daily i almost made it past bsl till all my hair broke off to 3 inches

 

[simplydara]

wanted to dye my hair so I got some diluted bleach and put it on my hair. I told everyone I used a Lemon shampoo that made it lighter. That's why I stumbled opon this board. My hair hated me. It all broke off

 

[Blessed_Angel]

Well, now, do you mean years ago or recently?

Years ago:

1. Press my hair with the hot comb, as hot as it could get. (I did look like I had a perm though). And since I didn't know that heat protectants even existed; I didn't use one!

2. When I was 15, I permed my hair with my sister's old relaxer, and did it over ever week cause I thought that since it wasn't "potent enough", that it would be ok. Needless to say, I was bald in no time.

3. After my hair broke off, I let this lady braid my hair. But she "advised" that I perm it first, cause that's best for the hair. I was in braids for a while after that.

Recently:

1. Although, I knew that using heat on wet hair would cause heat damage, I assumed that since I had a heat protectant that caused my hair to feel wet, and a ceramic tourmaline flat iron, that my hair would be protected. And when I heard the sizzle, I prayed that that didn't mean a bad thing. But I kept on going!! That was months ago, and I am still paying the consequences!!

Hopefully, I won't have anymore to report in the future.